It’s not a secret that a big draw-back of renewable energy is cost. The direct financial costs borne by the producers, and therefore consumers, of electricity created from fossil fuels is lower than that of renewable sources like wind and solar. However, the argument in favor of renewable energy is that there are indirect costs of electricity generated from fossil fuels that are not borne directly by the producers or consumers, but by society at large.

These are environmental and health costs that do have a direct and meaningful impact on our quality of life, but are not directly paid by producers and consumers of electricity generated from coal and other fossil fuels.

These indirect costs are not as tangible as the direct costs: you feel the impact of your electricity bill on your budget immediately, while the health and environmental impacts of coal usage are hard to quantify. …read more of Canary in a Coal Mine here

Have you wondered why areas with hot climates haven’t utilized solar energy more? I have, and am happy to say that there is a man who wants to make the sun and integral part of the way we live.

Syd Kitson, Chairman & CEO of Kitson & Partners has partnered with the state of Florida and formed an alliance of unlikely bed-partners. Government leaders, environmentalists, utilities and private business partners are coming together in a manner not seen before. They plan to create the first ALL solar and carbon neutral city!

The smart meter will be the ground soldier of the smart grid, allowing both utilities and consumers to track demand from individual homes and businesses in real time. Critics remain skeptical about the cost of installing smart meters across the US, but the benefits we are going to see will prove well worth the cost.

Eventually, my smart meter will allow me to monitor my electricity usage online, but this feature will not be available to SDG&E customers until later in the year. Until then the meter’s main benefit is that SDG&E can monitor my demand and identify problems (basically, not much).

Once I can track my usage and the current price of electricity in real time, however, the system will allow me to level off my demand–moving away from peak demand hours when prices are highest–and encourage me to reduce my overall demand. …read more of My New Smart Meter here